Requesting tests in Unity

May 18, 2020

Currently, approximately 75% of pathology requests are ordered correctly in Unity.

We need your continued focus on reducing the use of paper requests, improving marking of the sample as collected and, the correct application of labels on sample bottles. All these require the correct process for ordering of samples to occur. The impact is that 25% of results do not come back as solicited results and are therefore not endorsable.

To date there have been 155,000 tests ordered in Unity. We have seen 7,000 episodes of not recording samples collected, 4,000 where multiple labels were used and 35,000 times that Unity wasn’t used to order the sample. There are three process guides available, two of which will help colleagues undertake these procedures correctly. The additional guide outlines correct ordering process.

Please refer to these guides and make sure you understand what is required of you. If you need any clarity, please speak to your line manager in the first instance.

Sample collection
Ordering bloods
Affixing barcode labels

This remains an important aspect of our care and we are seeing a few more incidents with results being missed. We need to build on the good work done already.